It was another bad night at the theatre for Abraham Lincoln on Sunday, but Les Miserables found some happiness.

That was the result of at 70th Golden Globe awards, Hollywood’s raucous — not to say boozy — cousin to the Oscars.

Les Mis, the adaptation of the stage musical about the down-and-out in Paris after the French Revolution, was favoured in the Globes’ music and comedy category.

It won that award, and Hugh Jackman won the Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy or musical for his heartfelt portrayal of Jean Valjean, the hounded ex-prisoner in Les Miserables. “Les Miserables is a project of passion, he said. “It took a lot of courage to make it.”

In addition, Anne Hathaway was named best supporting actress for her role as Fantine, the doomed prostitute of Les Miserables who sings the showstopper I Dreamed A Dream. “Thank you for this lovely blunt object which I will forever use as a weapon against self-doubt,” she said. She also thanked fellow nominee Sally Field (nominated for Lincoln) for her good example: “The flying nun grew up to be Norma Rae,” she said.

Lincoln, Steven Spielberg’s prestige biography of the 16th president’s efforts to end slavery, led the Globes with seven nominations. It had to make do with one: a best actor award for Daniel Day-Lewis — the only real gimme of the night — for his portrait of Lincoln as a man torn between his desire to end slavery and his guilt over extending the Civil War.

Argo, Ben Affleck’s thriller about the rescue of American hostages from Iran during the so-called Canadian caper in 1980, was named best drama and Affleck — snubbed by the Oscars — was named best director.

The Globes are seen as important partly because attendees are allowed to drink during the ceremony, increasing the possibility that they might do something outrageous, but mostly because they are an indication of the Oscars, which are given out Feb. 24. Lincoln leads the Oscar nominations with 13, but its showing at the Globes could upset that bandwagon.

Jessica Chastain was named best actress in a drama for her role as Maya the CIA agent who led the hunt for Osama bin Laden in the controversial Zero Dark Thirty. “To be here now in this moment is a beautiful feeling,” she said in an emotional speech. She thanked director Kathryn Bigelow for allowing the character to “break the conventions of Hollywood.”

Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino’s underdog tale of revenge and blood in the slave-owning American south, also took several awards. Austrian actor Christoph Waltz got the supporting actor award for his portrayal of a German bounty hunter who takes on a freed slave in Django Unchained.

“My indebtedness to you and my gratitude knows no words,” he told Tarantino. Waltz, who came to Hollywood’s attention (and won an Oscar and a Globe) in Tarantino’s 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, is also nominated for an Academy Award.

Django got another boost when Tarantino won the award for best screenplay. He thanked both his cast and the friends who listen to his screenplay as he writes it and then reads it to them. “You guys don’t know how important you are to my process,” he said.

As expected, Jennifer Lawrence won the award for best actress in a comedy or musical for her role as charmingly unhinged widow who falls for Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook. “What does it say on here? I beat Meryl,” she marvelled — Meryl Streep had been nominated in the category for her role in Hope Springs — as she accepted the award.

The Canadian content came when Mychael Danna of Toronto won the Globe for his musical score of Life of Pi, the drama based on a novel by Canadian writer Yann Martel. The award for the best song went to Skyfall by Adele, the British singer who was making her first public appearance since having a baby in October.

In another non-surprise, the Austrian drama Amour — which is also nominated for Oscars in both the foreign film and best picture categories — won the award as best foreign film. Director Michael Haneke, who accepted the Globe from Arnold Schwarzenegger, said: “I never thought to get an award in Hollywood from an Austrian.” The Pixar film Brave was named best animated film.

Lena Dunham’s HBO show Girls took home the Golden Globe for best TV comedy or musical series, beating out fan favourites such as The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family.

Among other TV winners, Julianne Moore won a best-actress Globe for her role as Sarah Palin in Game Change, which also was picked as best TV miniseries or movie and earned Ed Harris a supporting-actor prize. Best actor in a miniseries or movie went to Kevin Costner for Hatfields & McCoys. Homeland was named best TV drama series, and its stars Claire Danes and Damian Lewis received the dramatic acting awards. Maggie Smith won as supporting actress for Downton Abbey.

The ceremony was hosted by TV stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, replacing the edgier Ricky Gervais who, Fey said, “is no longer technically in show business.” However, Poehler followed that line with a Gervaisesque tribute to Bigelow, nominated as best director for the controversial Zero Dark Thirty, with its depiction of the waterboarding of terror suspects.

“When it comes to torture, I trust a lady who spent three years married to James Cameron,” she said. Later, when Bill Clinton made a surprise appearance as a presenter, Poehler said, “Wow, what an exciting special guest! That was Hillary Clinton’s husband!”

Jodie Foster, who received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, came close to admitting what has long been rumoured — the she is gay — but instead said she had made her “coming out” announcement years earlier. She also said that at 50, and after 47 years in show business, she is leaving the stage, an apparent announcement of her retirement.